Video of orb exploding is not from Miami mall Jan. 1

An Instagram post shared a video of a giant orb taking shape in a public space, claiming the video was from New Year’s Day at a Miami mall. But the video of the orb was shared on the internet as early as May 2023.

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The video is shared with the caption, "Looks like the Blue Beam Project started … " 

Blue Beam is a conspiracy theory that claims the United Nations and NASA are using technology to spread a new religion on Earth and take over the world, establishing a "New World Order." 

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The Instagram post suggested the video was taken at Miami’s Bayside Marketplace on New Year’s Day, when police activity sparked false claims that aliens were in the mall. Police were called to the mall Jan. 1 after a group of 50 teenagers shot fireworks at people and looted stores, PolitiFact previously reported. 

But the orb video was shared on TikTok as early as May 5, 2023. That video had a caption in Russian that Google translated to, "A real portal was noticed in China." 

We rate the claim that a video shows a giant orb appearing in Miami’s Bayside Marketplace on New Year’s Day Pants on Fire!